You can't help but love Dolly Parton no matter what she does, but some of her films leave a lot to be desired. This TV movie is basically a retread of the Debbie Reynolds film "My Six Loves" combined with Christmas and Halloween themes. Dolly's a country and western star who decides to leave Hollywood (not Nashville) where the cabin in the woods she's leasing is filled with mysterious runaway kids, and a lascivious sheriff (Bo Hoskins) who makes a pass at her even though he is under the spell of forest witch Anita Morris. She's jealous of the buxom Dolly and tries to pulled her under her spell, but Dolly's rescued by mountain man Lee Majors.
This has to be probably the weirdest Christmas movie I've ever seen, and that includes such disasters as a 1959 Mexican film where Santa Claus meet Satan and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". But Dolly sings and is a great surrogate mother for these kids, and it's obvious based on the billing whom she will end up romantically involved with. The big haired Morris (in a dark brown wig rather than her usual red hair) is once again saddled with an unlikable character, sad because she exuded a ton of charm off screen. This film's effort to be campy and funny is not amusing, and the supernatural subplot really seems unwelcome in a Christmas film. This really is a film script that should have gone up in smoke that would have been a complete dud without Dolly.
This has to be probably the weirdest Christmas movie I've ever seen, and that includes such disasters as a 1959 Mexican film where Santa Claus meet Satan and "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians". But Dolly sings and is a great surrogate mother for these kids, and it's obvious based on the billing whom she will end up romantically involved with. The big haired Morris (in a dark brown wig rather than her usual red hair) is once again saddled with an unlikable character, sad because she exuded a ton of charm off screen. This film's effort to be campy and funny is not amusing, and the supernatural subplot really seems unwelcome in a Christmas film. This really is a film script that should have gone up in smoke that would have been a complete dud without Dolly.